After the success of Waze, an app that lets you plan your route and avoid traffic in real time, comes Israel’s next big movement app: Moovit. The company just closed a $28 million round of financing and is coming to a bus stop near you! Moovit, which we’ve written about here, is a social transit […]

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Elon Musk is known as the founder of SpaceX, a pioneer in the commercialization of space travel and Tesla, a company named after a brilliantly mad high-voltage inventor of the nineteenth century and known for its electric cars. So what happens when this visionary sets his eyes on America’s decaying public transportation infrastructure? The result […]

The post Hyperloop, Elon Musk dreams of a fifth mode of transportation [video] appeared first on Green Prophet.

Qatar has promised a carbon neutral 2022 World Cup, but we know from the Masdar City experiment how hard that is to achieve. Still, here are five dubious steps AECOM and Zaha Hadid Architects are reported to be taking to support that goal with their joint design – Al-Wakrah Stadium. Shaped like a dhow out of deference to Qatar’s […]

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Dubai’s metro started running in 2009 (don’t fall asleep though) but Abu Dhabi, the wealthier Emirate, is only now reducing its dependence on cars with a swanky new rail and tram system. And Siemens hopes to hop on board. The National reports that Abu Dhabi’s Executive Council approved a plan to develop a multibillion dollar, […]

The post Abu Dhabi is Phasing Out Cars and Siemens Wants to Help appeared first on Green Prophet.

There’s traffic. And then there is Cairo traffic, which can drive even the saintliest men and women to a special kind of madness. But a new public transportation option has popped up that could make getting from point A to point B significantly less stressful. Locals have come up with all kinds of solutions to […]

The post Green Roofed and Wi-Fi Enabled Tawseela Micro Buses Cut Through Cairo’s Traffic appeared first on Green Prophet.

Tel Aviv will be the first city to install a magnetic levitating transit system (maglev) designed by NASA and SkyTran, and the electric train in the sky will be almost entirely solar-powered. The SkyTran Personal Rapid Transit system first proposed by inventor Douglas Malewicki in 1990 is currently under construction at NASA’s Ames Research Center in […]

The post SkyTran: World’s First Levitating Transit System Heads to Tel Aviv appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israelis are not only clean tech startup masters but also – increasingly – big fans of public transportation, which is why Moovit  makes such good sense. A dynamic new mobile app that tracks buses, planes, trains and other forms of transport in 30 cities across the globe, this user-generated platform makes getting from point A […]

The post Moovit App Makes Public Transportation Easy and Fun appeared first on Green Prophet.

If you’ve traveled throughout the Sinai Peninsula, you will understand how wonderful it is to have a service like Bedouin Bus. A non profit public transportation service founded and sponsored by community members to ensure that travelers have affordable and stress-free access to the more remote parts of this magical part of Egypt, the bus fills […]

The post Bedouin Bus is a Friendly Way to Travel Sinai appeared first on Green Prophet.

And make it electric? Electrifying Israel’s railway system may cause too much electromagnetic radiation experts warn. Israel’s local and national rail services have often been featured on Green Prophet ever since Jerusalem’s light rail service was completed in 2010, and another light rail line proposed for the coastal city of Tel Aviv .Its national rail service, […]

The post Will Radiation Danger Spoil Israel’s Electrified Train? appeared first on Green Prophet.

  On Thursday, Dec. 20, Tzipi Livni’s new party, The Movement, stated that environmental reforms will be key components of their platform in the January 2013 Israeli elections. They propose passing a Basic Law for environmental protection, and a long-term blueprint for the Israeli energy market. Livni presented The Movement’s environmental agenda together with Green […]

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King Mohammed VI rode with French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and head of Moroccan government Abdelilah Benkirane on Casablanca’s spiffy new tramway during its debut run, which traversed the distance between United Nations Square and Mohammed Square on 12 December, 2012. Designed to reduce air pollution, ease vehicular congestion and increase economic development in what […]

The post Spiffy New Tramway Connects Casablanca’s Hot Spots appeared first on Green Prophet.

More than 200 cyclists took over the streets of Beirut Sunday demanding a sustainable public transportation system for Lebanon. Haunted by the pollution poisoning their city’s car-clogged roads, more than 200 cyclists took over Beirut last week Sunday in an effort to demand a revival of its once-decent public transportation system. The seven kilometer (5 […]

The post Beirut Cyclists Try to Revive Dead Trains and Trams appeared first on Green Prophet.

Public transportation is not popular among the Gulf elite who can easily afford the expense of fueling their own cars. And for many, global warming and climate change are nothing more than buzz words. So it will take a special effort to transform the emirate into one that gives up the convenience of personal vehicles. […]

The post Qatar Foundation Site to Go Car-Free With Siemens Trams appeared first on Green Prophet.

Galmidi Yitzhar and the industrial designer Yaksein Eliran won first place in a design competition for a new underground train station in one of Israel’s most vibrant cities – Tel Aviv. Borrowing inspiration from some of the city’s most iconic features, such as its ubiquitous collection of Bauhaus architecture and the Ficus Microcarpa trees planted […]

The post Bauhaus Design Goes Underground in Tel Aviv appeared first on Green Prophet.

Headphones kill pedestrians and cyclists who can’t hear traffic. Israel proposes new legislation to ban the music while cycling.  Israel is rapidly becoming a nation of bikers, from cycle-tourism to the bike-sharing program that earned Tel Aviv municipality a Green Globe Award this year. But it has proven a risky method of transit on crowded streets. Sunday, […]

The post Outlaw Biking with Headphones Say Israeli Lawmakers in World First Ban appeared first on Green Prophet.

The bad news is that Jordan’s Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT) was suspended last year amid concerns about the associated cost and feasibility. Although the multimillion dollar project would have considerably reduced traffic and smog in capital Amman, details of the system conceived by the Greater Amman Municipality in 2009 are still being ironed out. […]

The post Teenagers Use Abandoned Bus Lane for Safe Urban Cycling in Jordan appeared first on Green Prophet.

After a rough time in Tunis, Tafline pushed past a culture shock hangover to appreciate Tunisia’s second largest city. When the bus stopped at the station in Sfax, 170 miles from Tunisia’s capital city, I seriously considered getting back on and heading as far south – away from civilization – as I could get. But […]

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According to local engineers, the public needs to show its support for Jordan’s ambitious Bus Rapid Transit to help it overcome political barriers Over a year ago, we reported (with considerable excitement) that Jordan was planning to deal with the growing congestion of the capital city by establishing a new line of buses. These high-capacity […]

The post Jordan’s Public Transport Plans Blocked By ‘Political’ Barriers appeared first on Green Prophet.

Public transportation shuts down completely on the Jewish Sabbath across Israel, but now Tel Aviv (Israel’s secular capital) wants to allow buses within the city on Saturdays. It’s a bit of a paradox: Saturday is the one day that Israelis universally have off from work, but it is also the only day that public transportation […]

The post Public Transportation on Tel Aviv’s Sabbath: Ecologically Smart or Defiling Religious Law? appeared first on Green Prophet.

This graphic shows other ways to spend the $2.4 billion planned for what critics call Morocco’s luxury high speed rail project A group of Moroccan Non-Government Organizations have launched the Stop TGV campaign in protest of Morocco’s $2.4 billion high speed rail project. The TGV line is expected to link up Casablanca with Tangiers by […]

The post Stop TGV Campaign Challenges Morocco’s Controversial High Speed Rail Project appeared first on Green Prophet.

Eco-tourists may be able to get to see these underwater creatures in Eilat faster due to the construction of a railway line from Tel Aviv. Eilat, located at the southern tip of Israel, draws both local and international tourists year-round due to its warm weather and marine biodiversity.  Though not equipped with an international airport, […]

The post New Israeli Railway Line Approved Between Tel Aviv and Eilat appeared first on Green Prophet.

Jerusalem’s light rail may be a great way to encourage the use of public transportation, but why doesn’t it allow bikes on board? Four months ago the much anticipated Jerusalem light rail was launched after years of construction.  (The future of the Tel Aviv light rail has yet to be seen.)  The new light rail […]

The post Cyclists Protest Ban on Bikes Aboard Jerusalem’s Light Rail appeared first on Green Prophet.

The World Health Organization gets LEED Gold certification, a first for the Hashemite Kingdom. It’s like the Olympics, but in green building codes: The new Amman headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) just grabbed top kudos for green building: Certified Gold under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a world standard for green […]

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Palestinian artist Mohamed Abusal envisions converting Gaza’s smuggling tunnels into an underground metro system. A small handful of Bedouin families living in the Gaza Strip ran thousands of smuggling tunnels beneath the Egypt-Gaza Strip separation barrier. In part to transport weapons between Rafah in Egypt and the Rafah Palestinian refugee camp and in part to import […]

The post Gaza’s Smuggling Tunnels Into an Underground Metro? appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Haramain High Speed Rail Project (HHR) in Saudi Arabia recently broke ground, which bodes well for the future of the Kingdom’s environmental/energy footprint.  Phase II of Saudi Arabia’s 276 mile Haramain High Speed Rail Project (HHR) is now underway. The Kingdom is getting 35 swanky new trains and 4 stations designed by Foster + Partners […]

The post Swanky New Train Will Get Pax From Jeddah to Makkah in Under 30 Minutes appeared first on Green Prophet.

At least there is public transport in Dubai. Don’t get too comfy though. You’ll get fined for falling asleep. We’ve all heard stories of a friend of a friend who was in some remote country: the friend did something perfectly normal in his home country, like walk on the grass, only to be fined by […]

The post American Fined 80 Bucks For Sleeping on Dubai Train appeared first on Green Prophet.

Could a bike sharing system work in Beirut? Bicycle sharing has become all the rage in certain cities in the past few years, ever since the Parisians got the trend going with the Vélib’ shared bike rental system approximately three years ago.  In the Middle East, Nicosia implemented a bike sharing system a few weeks […]

The post Is Bicycle Sharing Coming to Beirut? appeared first on Green Prophet.

An architect in Beirut illustrates how a small splash of color can completely transform a concrete environment. But trust us, that is just the beginning of this city’s problems. I judge a country by its public transportation, and Sandra Rashini, an architect who held a magnifying glass over Lebanon’s colossal urban problem for Mashallah, will tell […]

The post Car Use in Lebanon Increased by 538% in 24 Years appeared first on Green Prophet.

Announced with much fanfare, the plans to build an new bus transit in Jordan have been quietly shelved pending further review Back in early 2011, the Jordanian government announced that it would be building a new impressive bus transit aimed at reducing congestion along Amman’s busiest routes. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plans entailed operating […]

The post Jordan’s Ambitious Bus Plans Get Shelved appeared first on Green Prophet.

Iranian environmental activists and artists are getting bolder. Recently, “tree huggers” planted these stumps on a street in the city of Kerman to protest against deforestation. Sometimes environmental activists are visionary people who take enormous personal risks. Ashley Fruno from PETA was arrested for parading around Jordan covered in nothing but lettuce. Bill McKibben and […]

The post Iranian Artists Fight Smog with the Tehran Monoxide Project appeared first on Green Prophet.

Environmentalist in countries such as Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon joined 350.org’s ‘Moving Planet’ campaign to celebrate and support greener forms of transport The stifling heat of the Middle East may be one reason why people prefer to take the car rather than walk or cycle but that doesn’t mean that they don’t support the creation […]

The post Middle East Joins Worldwide Campaign For Greener Transport (Photos) appeared first on Green Prophet.

Shop till you “drop” at the Jerusalem bus station. Working in a congested bus station, especially one like Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station is not conducive to one’s health. The toxic fumes created by the hundreds of buses that go in and out of this station, and all the free radicals in this air pollution is […]

The post Jerusalem’s Bus Station – A Pollution Death Trap for Workers and Shoppers appeared first on Green Prophet.

How can eco-friendly transportation be improved in the suburbs? When contemplating whether to live in a city or in the suburbs, most people weigh the pros and cons of having more space or less space, being closer to better schools for their kids or having the convenience of everything nearby in an urban environment. But […]

The post Is Car-Free Living Possible in the Suburbs? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Green Prophet’s Arwa on her decision not to drive a car and the social stigma that comes with it… Maybe it has something to do with my love of trains and car-induced travel sickness as a child, but I can honestly say I’ve never aspired to driving a car. Hitting the open road or whizzing […]

The post How To Live A Car-Free Existence appeared first on Green Prophet.

Around 2,500 took part in the car-free day – aiming to encourage the use of public transport Empty car parks and full Metros and buses is not a sight you’re likely to see very often in the Dubai but for one day it became reality. On Wednesday, around 2,500 employees decided to leave their cars […]

The post Dubai Goes Car-Free for a Day! appeared first on Green Prophet.

Masdar - the Eco-city - is home to the hottest and most energy efficient transport system in the world: The Personal Rapid Transit (pod car). The PRT is fast, powered by lithium batteries, driverless, can carry up to 10 people safely and looks oh so beautiful in the gleaming sun... Check out more here.

The post Masdar’s Futuristic Eco-Pod-Car Has Arrived – Fasten Your Seatbelts! appeared first on Green Prophet.

To unclog Amman’s road arteries, the municipality hopes to bring its state-of-the-art public buses online by next year. While it’s neighbor brings Better Place electric cars online, a move that may reduce emissions but not congestion, Jordan is instead pursuing a state of the art BRT system for its capital, Amman, the site of several […]

The post Jordan’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Set For 2012 Inauguration appeared first on Green Prophet.

Members at 2009 ECO Summit in Tehran Turkey is hosting the 11th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), which opened on Monday in Istanbul. The ECO Meeting is being held this week on 20-23 December 2010. The ECO was founded in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, and now it has also included Asian […]

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What it’s really like to explore Beirut (and especially the new Waterfront District) by bike. Lebanon – and Beirut in particular – have been making efforts recently to improve the availability of eco-friendly forms of transportation.  A campaign this past summer gathered 150 cyclists in Beirut to demonstrate how easy it could be to bike […]

The post An Insider’s Experience of Exploring Beirut by Bike appeared first on Green Prophet.

Middle East cities started “compact” and dense but now suffer from the same problems as the west. Tehran’s recent Smog Holidays show’s us something is wrong in Middle East cities. “Is compact urban growth good for air quality?” The research conducted by Brian Stone, Adam C. Mednick, Tracey Holloway, and Scott N. Spak in 2007 […]

The post The Compact City As Sustainable Urban Form Can Reduce Air Pollution appeared first on Green Prophet.

A look at the air pollution in Esfahan, Iran. Cars and the clay brick industry are some of the biggest problems. The solution? Take the bus. In 2005 it was announced for the first time that the air pollution of Esfahan, the third big city of Iran, was in an emergency situation. Since then Esfahan […]

The post Esfahan Is Almost As Polluted As Tehran appeared first on Green Prophet.

Commuter traffic and wasteful buildings are Tel Aviv’s biggest polluting culprits, according to City Architect of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Yoav David. As one of the events surrounding the EUREKA Israel Chairmanship this week, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv, Asaf Zamir, and Tel Aviv City Architect Yoav David  spoke to visiting European representatives about the city’s efforts […]

The post Yoav David, City Architect of Tel Aviv, Goes “EUREKA” About Urban Sustainability appeared first on Green Prophet.

Will Tel Aviv’s much-needed light rail train, ever, we ask again, ever, come to light? After more than 30 years of planning, and on-off deliberations, Tel Aviv’s own light rail rail line may finally be getting off the ground – that is, if the residents of Israel’s largest city really want it to. Call it […]

The post Tel Aviv Light Rail Train Chugs Away, Slowly appeared first on Green Prophet.

Pizza Hut or Pizza “Hot” – Iranians are getting fatter. Maybe because they are ignoring public transport. The statistics show that obesity is growing among Iranian families. According to Dr. Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, Minister of Health, only 20 percent of the Iranians do regular sport activities and about 60% of them are overweight. She also has […]

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Will a simple morning truck ban solve Tel Aviv’s traffic problems, or is the problem much more complicated? Anyone driving into Tel Aviv on a Sunday morning (the first day of the Israeli work week) knows that it’s a traffic nightmare.  As the main hub of central Israel, many people need to get to work […]

The post Tel Aviv Will Ban Trucks During Morning Rush Hour to Reduce Congestion appeared first on Green Prophet.

Will more people in Dubai catch on to merits of metro-riding, ditch the car, and reduce their carbon footprint? We’ve already established that the Emiratis are not the most enthusiastic walkers; this can be attributed to the region’s crippling heat, as well as a simple cultural phenomenon. This has led to one of the world’s […]

The post Public Transportation Takes Flight In Dubai appeared first on Green Prophet.

Legs? Who needs them when you can drive. Maybe this is why diabetes rates in the Gulf region are among the highest in the world. We already know about the terrible rates of road accidents in Saudi Arabia, the dangerous practice of car drifting, and the admiration for gold-plated cars. Now, a new study finds […]

The post Only 1 in 25 Emiratis Use Their Legs to Walk appeared first on Green Prophet.

You can lose your life cycling on the roads in Israel. Almost once a month, a cyclist gets killed by a car by a drunk or negligent driver. Despite the risks, the sport is catching on like wildfire. Bonnie Eshel, president of the Israel Cycling Federation says biking in Israel today is super-dangerous: “We live […]

The post Israel Becomes A Nation of Pedalers (Cycling Freaks) appeared first on Green Prophet.

Is the solution to Lebanon’s reliance on carbon emitting personal vehicles as simple as a two-wheeler? [image via: mozzoom] One hundred and fifty cyclists demonstrated how easy it could be to cycle through Beirut on Saturday morning, starting at Biel and going to the Luna Park – Manara and back.  The eco-friendly protest, led by […]

The post Darreja Campaign Encourages Sustainable Transportation in Lebanon appeared first on Green Prophet.

Dubai Metro works on expanding ridership and cutting down on personal vehicle usage, adding three more stations last week. [image of one of the Dubai Metro stations via: PakistanHousing] The Dubai Metro system, which already carries over 100,000 passengers a day, expanded to three more stations last week in an attempt to increase ridership even […]

The post Dubai Metro Expands to Three More Stations, Increasing Ridership appeared first on Green Prophet.